Moving to Inclusion
Moving to Inclusion is the new National Inclusion Framework that has been rolled out by the national agencies for sport across the UK; sportscotland in Scotland. The framework is a guide to support organisations develop inclusive practice through self-reflection which is followed up by the support of a 1:1 mentor.
In summer 2024, SSS started to work with our mentor with the aim of embedding equality, diversity and inclusion across our organisation and in all of our work. Our involvement in the Moving to Inclusion Framework has supported the development of our Equality Action Plan. This will be launched in October 2024.
We run an Equality Steering Group which uses member voices to influence our equality work and promote inclusion initiatives across the network.
Disability Sport
We have a close partnership with Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) and collaboratively, we work on a five-point action plan through twice-yearly meetings.
Parasport festival
On 31st October 2024, SSS will be collaborating with six member institutions in Glasgow, SDS and five national governing bodies to deliver the first ever student parasport festival!
This exciting event will give students with a physical disability, hearing or visual impairment the opportunity to try five different sports; paracanoe, para-athletics, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair curling and para-table tennis. This will be a phenomenal opportunity for underrepresented students to experience sport delivered in an accessible format as well as being signposted to further opportunities for them to participate in recreational and performance (should they wish!) sport. It will also support students studying sport in their professional development as they experience delivering accessible sessions.
Boccia
Boccia is a Paralympic sport designed for athletes with high support needs however, in the tertiary education sector particularly, it is an accessible sport that anyone and everyone can play. SSS has a long history of advocating for boccia at college and university level and we now have over 400 student players across the country!
In 2023 we supported the growth of boccia by providing free boccia kits to eight institutions through our Special Projects Fund and free access to a Boccia Leaders training course. Both of which have supported the increased on-campus activity that we are seeing every year. In the 2024/25 year, we have an exciting boccia calendar:
- SSS Boccia Festival – Wednesday 13th November – University of Stirling. Sign ups are open, sign up
- Boccia Leaders Course – hoping to be delivered in November/December 2024. More info to come.
- Scottish Student Boccia Championships – Sunday 2nd February – Perth UHI
Wheelchair Basketball
A 3×3 wheelchair basketball competition will be delivered on the 1st February as part of our biggest multisport event; Scottish Student Games. We are encouraging both students with a disability and those who are able-bodied to come along and have a go!
Regional Forums
SSS and SDS work collaboratively on two student disability sport forums; one in the Glasgow region and one in the Grampain region. Staff from SSS, SDS and local member institutions attend regular meetings to share updates, good practice and discuss collaborative work. The Glasgow student parasport festival was borne from the Glasgow regional forum.
National Campaign
We engage with SDS’ national campaign, Scottish Disability Sport Week which is being held 25th November – 1st December 2024.
Women & Girls
For the 2024/2025 academic year, SSS is launching its first ever Women & Girls Coaching project. This is an exciting programme that will be supporting student coaches from three different sports; cycling, rowing and football.
We recognise that there is massive disparity in the number of male and female coaches. In fact, between 2015-2020, the number of female coaches in Scotland fell to 27% compared to 72% male (Brown and Murray, 2021).
At the elite level, the numbers are even more shocking where, at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games only 13% of the coaches were female (IOC Female Coaches, 2021). We have launched this coaching project with the intention that targeted support will work towards empowering the next generation of female coaches.
Find out more about our programme here.
We support the sportscotland and Scottish Government national campaign Scottish Women & Girls in Sport Week which is being held on the 30th September – 6th October.
Race
SSS’ Inclusion & Culture Coordinator sits on the newly formed (September 2024) BUCS Implementation Group that has created following the Race and Equality Research Report 2023.
At SSS, we are working closely with Sporting Equals as experts in the field to ensure we are supporting the creation of a tertiary education sporting sector that welcomes people from black or ethnically diverse communities.
The national campaigns that we support on this topic are Show Racism the Red card (18th October 2024) and UK Race Equality Week (3rd – 9th February 2025).
LGBTI+
Partnership with LEAP Sports (Leadership, Equality and Active Participation in Sports for LGBTI people in Scotland) – Scotland’s LGBT+ Sport Charity
Our Inclusion & Culture Coordinator sits on LEAP’s National Group alongside representatives from other Scottish governing bodies. This is a group that promotes sharing of good practice, updates in the LGBT+ space and collaborative working.
We support LGBT+ History Month – every February – by showcases stories of students within our network.